


Your hand in mine, my fingers and your veins

by redstapler



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/M, Mentions of Kataang, Smut and Fluff, Zutara
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-17
Updated: 2018-12-17
Packaged: 2019-09-20 16:54:44
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17026527
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/redstapler/pseuds/redstapler
Summary: In the years following, when an intrepid journalist or overly familiar courtier would ask how their romance began, Katara would always get a shy smile and answer, “The rain.” This was usually enigmatic enough to put off nosy follow up questions, but it was the simplest truth.





	Your hand in mine, my fingers and your veins

In the years following, when an intrepid journalist or overly familiar courtier would ask how their romance began, Katara would always get a shy smile and answer, “The rain.” This was usually enigmatic enough to put off nosy follow up questions, but it was the simplest truth.

It started at the beginning of a quick getaway to the Ember Island house, Zuko and Katara taking on the chore of airing out the rooms, shut up since the end of last season. Sokka and Suki went to the market for provisions, with Aang tagging along to make sure they got food he could eat. Toph headed into town with them to help Suki keep everyone on task. In a market, Sokka and Aang had about the attention span of half a squirrel jay between them.

Suki knew Toph also just enjoyed everyone’s company, but would never actually say that out loud, and everyone knew Sokka and Aang would rather eat live toads than help clean the house. So, to the market they all went.

The weather looked a little dicey when they arrived, but Zuko assured them there was at least a few weeks before the rainy season, it should be fine.

It was, to Sokka’s immense irritation, not fine.

The torrent began, as such storms often do, with a drizzle. Suki suggested heading back before the rain got worse, but got voted down because Sokka wanted to comparison shop for haggling purposes. Toph announced she was hungry and that she was going to find a place to grab food where it was dry.

“C’mon, Twinkletoes, let’s leave the shopping to the ones who enjoy it.”

“Aw, but I like shopping, too!”

“Yeah, but I know you also like lunch!”

Aang couldn’t really argue that.

By the time Suki and Sokka joined them in the tavern, the rain was getting bad. Really bad. They had just ordered another round of tea when an official looking man bustled in wearing a poncho of waxed canvas. It wasn’t helping much.

“Excuse me, ladies and gentlemen! Your attention, please! We have received word that this weather system is far more severe than anticipated. We are requesting people find shelter nearby, and remain there until further notice.”

Suki stands up and makes her way to the official.

“Excuse me, hi. I’m here with Firelord Zuko, I’m the head of his security detail.” Suki holds up a piece of cloth with the Royal Seal on it, denoting her status. “I’m here escorting His Grace’s guests at the market,” Suki gestures to her friends back at her table. “We need to get back to the to the Summer Estate.”

The official cuts her off there.

“I’m so sorry, miss. All of the roads are under water already, and it is terribly unsafe.”

“Oh, that shouldn’t be an issue. Master Toph and Avatar Aang are with us. Little obstacles like water and mud are well within their--”

“Miss, I have seen entire herds of Hippo Cows swept up and drowned in rains like this. I do not doubt the strength and power your friends possess, but you are suggesting a gamble I would never make. Please, we are now under a curfew, and that unfortunately includes Avatars and Master Earthbenders.”

Suki isn’t keen on crashing on some lumpy inn mattress when the luxuries of the Royal Family await her back at the Estate. She also isn’t keen on fighting floods that have the power to drown Hippo Cows, though.

“I see. I’ll see what the innkeeper has available then, I guess.”

“Thank you for your understanding. I have seen too many visitors underestimate these rains, so I appreciate it when people heed the warning. Have a safe and dry evening, Miss.”

“Thanks,” Suki replies glumly, turning around to her friends. “New plan, guys. We’re crashing here tonight. I guess we’ll get back to the house in the morning.”

A chorus of disappointed groans echoes forth from the table.

“Yeah, I agree. But Officer Particular over there wasn’t going to let us try and get back now.”

With a huff, Toph stands up.

“Time to put on the ol’ Bei Fong charm. I’ll be damned if we don’t get the good rooms.”

“Toph, you sleep on the floor,” Aang protests.

“Sure, but in a place like this, we’re better off on floor of the good rooms. Trust me.”

Aang and Suki sit back down as Toph makes her way to the bar, walking with a poise and grace she rarely showed.

Sokka shrugs and grabs a menu from the next table over.

“Sokka! We just ate!” Suki tries to be shocked at his seemingly endless hunger, but she can’t quite muster it.

“I know. If we’re staying here, I’m figuring out dinner.”

Suki and Aang shrug, not really able to argue that logic. If they were going to be stuck for the night, they might as well enjoy themselves.

A loud, low siren sounds over the town. Suki knew that meant to signal the curfew, and that the weather is really as serious as the official had said. Yikes. 

 

* * *

 

“Okay, I think that’s about all of it.” Katara flops on some cushions in the front room. Zuko lands nearby on the cushions with a similar exhausted lack of grace.

“Yeah, any other stuff they want, they know where the linen closet is.”

“I don’t think Sokka knows  _what_ a linen closet is.”

Zuko looks at his friend and they crack up in exhausted laughter. An easy silence follows, the thrum of rain on the roof providing soothing ambient noise. It now reached a degree of darkness that Zuko lifts his hand to light the sconces around the room.

“Gosh, it’s really coming down out there. I thought you said this kind of weather was a couple weeks out?”

Zuko looks up at the ceiling with a frown. “I definitely said that. “Hey everyone, let’s go to the beach and sit in the house because there’s a monsoon going on!” is what I didn’t say.”

“I hope everyone’s almost back, I’d hate for--” Katara is interrupted by a long, low siren echoing over the island. “What on earth is that?”

“That,” Zuko scrubs at his face in annoyance, “is our storm siren. I have a feeling the others might have gotten stuck in town.”

Zuko has barely said that when there’s a knock at the door, and he rises to answer it. An official stands just outside, also in a waxed canvas poncho. He is startled by who comes to the door-- he clearly didn’t know who was in at the Estate.

“Your Grace,” he says, with a hasty bow.

“Hello, may I help you?”

“I just wanted to stop by and let you know that a curfew has been called for the island. Please remain indoors until we give the all clear?” The official’s voice wavers; giving health and safety instructions to his nation’s ruler had been skipped during orientation. 

“Of course. We have some friends in town, do you know if they were on their way back already?”

“I don’t believe so, Your Grace. The roads are starting to get bad, and I didn’t see anyone on my way here. They’re probably at one of the inns in town, if that’s the direction they were headed.”

“It is, thank you.”

“Would Your Grace like me to bring them a message when I return to town?”

“No, that won’t be necessary. Thank you for checking in. We’ll be sure to stay inside tonight.”

“Excellent, Your Grace. Have a safe and dry evening!”

“We will, thank you. You as well!”

Zuko shuts the door as the official stands out of his farewell bow and moves backwards toward the walk.

“So that’s a thing.”

“Everyone’s stuck in town, huh?”

“I guess so. Sorry you’re stuck with just me tonight.”

“Oh, you mean minus my nosy brother, my nosier ex, and a tiny woman who somehow snores loud enough to shake the entire house.”

“You forgot Suki.”

“No I didn’t, she’s fine. It’s a bummer she’s stuck in town.”

Zuko chuckles in agreement.

“Well, let’s see what’s left in the pantry. This was not the welcome feast I imagined when we planned this trip.”

Together, they make their way to the kitchen and open the massive cupboard off to the side. Dry goods, mostly sacks of rice and lentils, and jars of spices line the shelves. There is a lot, it just doesn’t have much variety.

“Ooh, looks like we’re in for a hearty meal of spice rice!”

“Spice rice?”

“It’s rice. With some spice. Things sometimes got dire back in Ba Sing Se with Uncle.”

Katara laughs nervously, not sure what reaction Zuko is hoping to receive. By unspoken rule, they didn’t talk about that time in their collective lives very much. Ba Sing Se being where their friendship nearly ended before it began, and later, where Katara had made her initial post-war decision about Aang. The city in general was a tender subject with her. Zuko didn’t know that second part of it, though. She becomes aware that her silence has gone on a little too long, and that Zuko is still looking at her expectantly. Okay, maybe being alone with him tonight had more potential for awkwardness than she’d initially considered.

Oh spirits, she still hadn’t said anything.

“I’m sure we’ll be just fine. Got anything to wash that feast down?”

“What we lack in food, we are overstocked with in wine. The cellar’s restocked by the off-season caretaker when I go home every year. I’ll go see what we’ve got. Can you get the water started?”

“I think I can handle that! Pick a winner!”

“I might even pick two!”

Zuko laughs again as he goes down to get some bottles. Meanwhile, Katara set to filling a large pot.

Once safely in the wine cellar and away from Katara, Zuko takes a beat. He waves his hand in the direction of the hall, lighting the sconces there as well. He leans against the cool stone wall, centering his breathing.

It had been several months since he’d seen Katara last, shortly after she and Aang had split. She’d looked mostly terrible then-- not that he’d ever tell her that. Even then, there had been a lightness in her eyes, that was returning. He was pleased to see the color had now returned to her cheeks and her spine straighter. Whatever feelings she’d had, she was well on the road to recovery.

He’d stayed firmly out of any of it when it happened, keeping his questions to himself, and nor had she sought his counsel either. He figured discretion was the better part of valor, and let the matter be. It would be a terrible lie to say he hadn’t been relieved at the end of that love affair, though. It had never sat quite right with him, but he’d never felt it his place to say anything.

Wine. Right.

Zuko stands up straight and goes to the wine racks to see what’s available.

Upstairs, Katara had placed the pot of water on the burner, but was having a beastly time figuring out how to light it. It takes a good couple of minutes before she realizes where she is.

You needed fire bending to light the stove. Of course you did.

She goes back to the pantry to get a bag of rice, and tries to figure out what else they’d need to prepare the meal.

Katara tries very hard not to romanticize the time she and her friends spent during the war, but she couldn’t deny there was a freedom to those times. It was the kind of freedom the six of them doubted they’d ever really find again. Zuko would arrange these retreats to try and get them all away from their collective responsibilities, but they never quite felt as...uncomplicated as things had been back then. Back before five of them became de facto world leaders, and Zuko had literally become one. Back before she’d given being The Avatar’s Girl a shot.

She grits her teeth. She wasn’t going to think about that.

Part of agreeing to this trip was promising herself a return to normality. She and Aang had barely been...together...by the end, so it’s not like this was some huge change. She just picked her seating arrangements differently. And more carefully.

She is just setting some oil and a few spices she thought would go nicely on the counter when Zuko emerges from the cellar.

“How’s the water doing?”

“Very cold.”

“Wha...oh. Right.” Zuko has the grace to look ashamed as he waves a hand toward the stove. “Sorry about that. These kitchens are built for fire bending staff to use them, nevermind guests who bend other elements.”

“It’s all right, it’ll get boiling soon enough. Find us some wine?”

“I did!” Zuko sets to opening it, then decanting it into a carafe. “Gotta let it breathe? It’ll be fine by the time dinner’s on.”

The next few minutes are filled with companionable cooperation, setting out dishes and cups, choosing spices, and enjoying each others’ company. Katara had forgotten how nice it was to cook with Zuko. He’d been the only one who’d helped her back in those fugitive days, after all.

They sit down at the table, freshly poured glasses in hand, and wait for the rice to be ready.

“So how have you been?” Katara asks this, eyeing him over the rim of her glass.

“Oh, you know. Same old me. Repairing a nation, brokering world peace, trying to keep fit. The usual. Eat right, get enough sleep.”

“Zuko, when have you ever gotten enough sleep?”

“Just about never, you’ve got me there.” Zuko takes a sip of his wine. “What about you? What have you been up to since…uh….you don’t have to answer that.”

“Since things ended with Aang?”

“Yeah. That. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have--”

“I’ve been doing so much better. It should have ended way sooner.”

“Oh. Well, glad to hear that, then.”

“I have lots to say on the topic, but maybe after a couple more glasses of this.” Katara drains her glass, placing it back on the table and bends more into it.

“Neat trick.”

“Hey, I’m not the one with a kitchen unusable by anyone but firebenders.”

“Point. I’m glad you’re feeling better. I was...I mean, I didn’t want to pry, but…”

“I was a big mess, wasn’t I?”

“No comment.”

“Ah, there’s that Fire Lord Diplomacy I’ve heard about. More wine?”

“Please.” Zuko holds his glass out and Katara bends a healthy pour into it. That accomplished, she stands up and checks the rice, which had just reached optimal fluffiness.

“The rice is done. Let’s see if your spice rice skills have withered since you’ve had people cooking for you.”

Zuko laughs and stands up, picking some jars from the counter.

“Stand back and let the Spice Lord do his magic.”

“SPICE Lord? That’s a new one.”

“Thought I’d try that one out. Hmm, okay. Some oil, some of this, this one, this one, and....all right, I think we’re ready!” Zuko spoons two bowls full of rice, and turns to present them to his dining companion. “Spice rice! Let’s eat, I’m really hungry.”

The rest of the meal passes smoothly, the two friends catching up on various pieces of gossip and court news. Food eaten, dishes washed and put away, they return to the cushions, bringing their wine with them. They’d finished the first bottle, and are now well into the second.

“You didn’t seem that surprised when that storm siren happened.”

“The roads here are awful. Outside of the cities and routes that were used to get to the fronts, our infrastructure is terrible. Small storms have shut this area down before, and this is shaping up to be a lot more than that.”

“You’ve been having trouble getting your ministers to care about infrastructure?”

“Seems dumb, right? No big deal, it’s just the freedom of movement of an entire country.”

“Can you appeal to their wallets? Try and spin it as improving trade routes instead?”

“You know, Toph said the same thing?”

“You’re talking domestic policy with Toph now?”

“I am when she’s who I’ll be asking to supervise the project, if it ever gets past the planning stage.”

Katara bursts out laughing.

“Oh, spirits, I…” Katara is helpless with laughter, barely able to finish her sentence. “Zuko, forget supervise. I can see her, like...doing some crazy earth bending that makes it look like she’s unfurling a rug…”

Zuko cracks up at the mental image, too, and suddenly both of them are incoherent with laughter. Rolling on the cushions, both trying to regain composure, they both lose any semblance of balance, and roll, flopping toward each other.

Their faces are suddenly terribly close.

Before either of them could fully process the moment, a great crash of lightning and thunder rocks the house. Katara yelps, and jolts to her other side, quaking.

Zuko reaches for her shoulder just as another crash of lightning streaks across the sky, followed by a great boom. Katara shrinks from the touch, folding even further into herself.

“Katara,” Zuko says as soothingly as possible. “Are you okay?”

Katara rolls toward him and nods weakly. Absent any other ideas of how to console her, he gently touches her shoulder again. This time, she leans into it. It hadn’t been his touch that had shaken her, it was the storm.

“C’mere.” Zuko folds her into his arms, subtly raising his body temperature so she feels safe and warm. “I’ve got you. You okay?”

He feels her relax against him, and a traitorous part of his mind takes the moment to enjoy it. She feels solid and real, and fits into his embrace as much as his baser instincts had always suggested she would. He quells those sorts of thoughts as much as he can; this is not the time for that.

“What’s going on? How can I help?”

Katara sniffs and wipes at her eyes.

“It’s...you’d laugh.”

“I doubt that. I’ve never seen you this shaken.”

“I’m, um. I’m afraid of storms?” She phrases it like a question, like she is worried he’d dismiss her fears.

“You are? I mean, obviously, that’s how this conversation is happening. I don’t remember that always being the case. I seem to recall flying through some awful gales on Appa, and you were just fine.”

“It’s a new thing? New ish. I’d say it started about six years ago.” There is a sarcastic tone to Katara’s statement that suggested she found the whole thing as ridiculous as she expected others to.

“Six years? That’s about when...oh. Oh.”

“Yeah.”

Katara sniffs again, her cheeks absolutely burning. Like Ba Sing Se, this was something they had simply never talked about. Zuko gets a thoughtful look on his face.

“You know, it would make way more sense for me to have this fear response.”

Katara looks at him mutinously.

“You’re making fun of me.”

“I am absolutely not. I’m just saying, I’m the one who actually got struck--”

Katara sits up, glaring at him.

“And I’m the one who had to watch it happen! I’m the one who had to restart your stupid heart! I never...you…” Tears well up in her eyes. They are angry tears, the kind that feel like they’re just there to make you look foolish and young.

Another flash and crash shakes the house, drowning out Katara’s fury. Sitting up, he puts his arms around Katara once more. She takes a deep breath and looks him in the eyes.

“For a very long time, I did everything I could to put that day behind me. I made specific choices, I committed myself to actions. I committed myself to Aang. He never knew what you did. I thought he did, but somehow, he missed that part of the story. Like somehow for years, anytime Sokka or Toph or my father talked about it, he just wasn’t in the room. He wasn’t listening.

“But also, I never told him. We never talked about that day, not that part of it, anyway. It was always that we’d beat your sister, that he’d beat your father. Somehow the fact you...that you...somehow it just entirely passed him by.

“I found out he didn’t know, well. Kind of like this? There was a storm, and I freaked out, and he tried to comfort me. He cracked some joke about how I didn’t need to worry, he’d redirect the lightning for me, and I just...I broke. It became immediately obvious he had no idea about one of the defining moments of my life. And by that point it had been over five years since it happened. How do you tell the person you were planning on spending your life with something like that, so far after the fact?

“No matter how you explain it, how you preface it, it would just sound like a lie by omission. Like we’d...Like I’d been hiding it from him all this time. I left for Kyoshi Island the next day. I just had to leave.”

Katara lets out a watery chuckle and rearranges herself in a more comfortable position in Zuko’s embrace.

“See? I told you, get more wine in me and you’d get this story.”

“I had no idea. He and I never talked about the Agni Kai. It always seemed like it would be an awkward conversation to have, and never a necessary one.”

“I mean, it’s not like it’s a state secret. Wait, is it a state secret?”

Zuko laughs.

“No, nothing quite like that. But the Fire Sages did downplay my injury a lot. In the official record, you’re given credit for subduing Azula, but they chose to omit why you engaged in combat. Seeing as you weren’t officially my second.”

“I didn’t know Agni Kais even involved seconds.”

“It’s a part of the tradition that’s been forgotten, mostly. Not too many Agni Kais being fought these days at all.”

Katara traces a thread on Zuko’s tunic, right above the scar over his heart.

“Why did you do it, Zuko?”

“Please don’t ask me that.” Katara is unable to miss the depth of emotion in his request. It emboldens her.

“I’m sorry? How could you possibly expect that I wouldn’t ask that, the first time we ever talk about it?”

“No, I know. It’s an unfair request. But please, you have to know the answer to that question complicates so many things.”

Zuko lowers his head, his eyes drifting closed with the motion. He can’t look at her while she asks him this question. It hurts too much.

“Maybe,” Katara says, suddenly feeling very brave, “maybe it uncomplicates some other things.”

Gently, with a touch of her lips as soft as a breath, Katara kisses Zuko’s face. His eyes fly open, realizing that the answer to innumerable prayers, the wish on every star, was suddenly very much within his reach.

Not wanting the moment to escape, Zuko shifts himself and cups her face in his hands.

“All right. Why did I do it? This is why.”

Zuko begins the kiss as gently as she had kissed him, neither one believing this was actually, truly, finally happening. A relieved sigh escapes her, and his hands move from her face to pull her closer into his arms.

“I love you,” he says breathlessly into her neck, overjoyed to finally share this most private of his secrets. “I’ve loved you for so long. I didn’t even think that day. I just acted. The thought of losing you was just…” Zuko lets another kiss complete the sentence for him.

Once again, in the space of a moment, Zuko has thrown Katara’s entire world sideways. Years of shared smiles, knowing looks, and shy well-wishes take on new depth. Nearly every conversation she has had in the last five years has new meanings. Every choice she made, every stance she took suddenly has a new variable to their equations that she never thought to account for.

She decides this new variable is a master key that slots everything into place. Plagues of self-doubt that haunted the back of her mind disappear as shadows in sunlight.

Zuko has pulled back from this last kiss, concern in his eyes.

“I understand if you don’t feel the same, if this is too sudden--”

“I saw Mai kissing you in your room the morning of your coronation.”

Suddenly, it is Zuko’s turn to have every context of the last five years shift into new focus. Katara keeping her distance, Katara choosing Aang. Katara losing touch, except for political functions and the occasion group weekend. He’d respected every cue, and part of that respect was to never wonder why.

“Oh,” is all he can muster, before he gathers her close again and presses his nose to her hair. She smells like the sea and sweat and turmoil. This day has always been coming, and he wonders how much sooner it could have been in a different set of circumstances. “I had no idea.”

“I saw that and I thought, oh, of course!” There is no malice in her tone. “You had a life before joining up with us, it made sense you would want to return to it. Obviously you would want some semblance of normalcy to buoy you through what was about to be an entirely new complicated situation.”

“But I didn’t want Mai. I wanted you. I never said anything because you...” Zuko fumbles, trying to keep accusation out of his voice.

“Because I stepped back.”

“Yes. That. And I never said anything because I was following your lead. What a mess.”

Katara rearranges herself slightly, and drapes her arms around Zuko’s neck. She kisses him soundly, imbuing the action with every wisp of longing and thrum of desire she’d been hiding.

“We spent the whole day cleaning. Let’s clean this up, too. Come on, the rest of this conversation shouldn’t happen in such a uh...heavily trafficked part of the house.”

She stands up, holding out her hand to a very stunned looking Fire Lord. With a wicked grin, she leads him down the hall to his room, hoping there is no more ambiguity in her actions.

Taking the hint, Zuko grabs her hips and presses her back against the wall next to his room.

“I don’t know, I think we should have this conversation in all the rooms.” He kisses her giddily, swinging her around again and directing her into his room, to his bed. His bed!

They break apart, and suddenly she is removing her tunic and salwar. Zuko blinks, not realizing the conversation was heading quite that far in this direction, but not complaining about it.

He lights some of the sconces around the room, then tosses his own tunic over his head. He moves towards her, drinking in the sight of her before him in just her sarashi. Katara places her hand on the scar over his heart, and he swears he feels the lightning course through him again.

She runs her hand down his torso to the waistband of his trousers, dipping her fingertips over and in. A gentle tug is all that’s required for Zuko to return to her, both of them delighting in the feel of skin touching skin.

He skims his hands down her sides, then with a delicious look, reaches for the end ties of her sarashi. She grins as he loosens the bindings, exposing her breasts to the warm air. He drops the cloth on the floor, then leans forward, placing kisses under her ear, down her neck, and down farther to take a nipple into his mouth.

A soft gasp escapes her, and her hands find his hair, tugging softly, and close to the scalp. The sensation shoots through Zuko, who moans around the flesh he’s worshiping.

They tumble back toward the bed, and he lowers her onto it. He continues his kisses down her abdomen, taut muscles jumping under his lips. He reaches the bindings at her hips, and she lifts up, giving him access to undo those as well.

Soon, she is bare before him, resplendent. He sends a prayer of thanks to whoever is listening that he has lived to see this moment, that their circumstances aligned for this to happen.

He places a gentle kiss on her hip, chaste but for its location. He wants her to know once he gets a taste of her, he many never want anything else again. Instead, he leans up and kisses her mouth. Pulling back to look at her, he sees love on her face, and excitement. But in her eyes, oh, there is a hunger there he never dared imagine.

“You tell me to stop, and this all ends. Otherwise, I’m going to continue until we don’t know what joy was before this.”

With that, he kisses her again, trailing down her neck, her breasts, and farther, once again placing a kiss on her hip. His eyes meet hers as he places open mouth kisses on the insides of her thighs. His hands trail up to her center, running an experimental finger up her slit.

Katara gasps, seeing stars.

He presses one finger in, gently, then two, slowly dragging them back out, taking precise note of each clench and gasp he draws from her. He presses in again, leaning forward to mouth gently at the skin where his fingers work at her.

Katara feels like a coil being wound tighter and tighter. She is a bow being drawn. She is an arrow never before let fly.

Zuko breathes steam, raising his temperature, directing heat towards his fingers and tongue. The shift in sensations is what does the trick, and Katara feels like she’s taking off into the night. Fireworks go off behind her eyes as she cries out his name and several other incoherent prayers. He eases her through it, slowing down, adding more pressure, drawing out as much pleasure as he can.

He has never seen anything so beautiful.

Finally, she returns to herself, heart rate slowing, breath easing. She shivers, full of new emotions and an exhilaration she’d never dared consider. She pulls him up by his shoulders, dragging them both to the center of the bed.

Twining her limbs through his, she kisses him, enjoying the taste of herself on his lips. She becomes aware of his length, hard against her thigh. She shivers once more, thrilling at the idea this has merely been a beginning of what’s to come.

She leans away to palm him through his trousers, and he lets out a hiss of breath, a blush coming to his cheeks.

“You don’t...I’m okay.”

“What?”

“We can stop here, I’ll be fine.”

“Why in the name of Tui and La and all the spirits would I want to stop now?”

Zuko blushes harder.

“I don’t know? Just trying to be honor…able…” The word sticks in his throat, a terrible joke in a beautiful moment. Katara laughs huskily, and he has to wonder what he wouldn’t give up to hear that sound forever.

“R&R isn’t the only thing I got on Kyoshi Island, Zuko.” He looks at her, momentarily confused. “Kyoshi Tea.”

Understanding hits him, and he blushes even harder.

“Oh. I see.”

“Yes.” Katara digs her hands into his waistband once more, this time pulling the trousers down, pushing them away and onto the floor.

It is now her turn to marvel at him. The years have been kind, further broadening his shoulders, adding strength and power to his already exquisite form.

She leans forward and kisses him as she takes him in hand. He gasps into her mouth at the touch, and they both curl in on each other, reveling in touch and taste.

She mouths at his right earlobe, licking and nipping, grinning as he writhes at the sensations. Her kisses trail down his neck and chest as she mirrors his actions on her. She playfully chews on his hip bone, jutting out next to deliciously defined muscle. He laughs, and then chokes mid laugh as she licks a stripe up his cock.

Looking him dead in the eye, she takes him into her mouth, pulsing her tongue along the vein that runs along the underside. With a slow movement, dragging her lips tortuously up him, she lets off with a soft pop, and grins at him.

His cock is still in her hand.

She moves up his body, her legs straddling his hips.

“You sure?” She asks, with a grin that he would never forget for the rest of his days.

“Please,” he replies, choked off and tight with restraint.

She guides him in, easing slowly down until she is once again resting on his hips. She stills, feeling the moment, feeling him inside her. Her eyes open to see him gazing up at her, and the fire in his gaze threatens to engulf her. Grinning wickedly, she clenches and releases.

Something behind his eyes snaps, and his hands grab her shoulders. With a swift twist, he has her underneath him once more.

“Forgive me,” he says breathlessly. “I have held myself in check for years, but I can’t now. Not anymore.”

His touch sears her skin, and she can’t tell if he’s bending or if this is just how things are with each other now. She giddily realizes she doesn’t care, as long as he keeps hitting the spot he’s driving at.

Katara feels the coils once more, and brings her hand to herself, her circular motions drawing the coils tighter and tighter. Suddenly, the alignment of her hand, his cock, and the delicious weight of him, tip her over the precipice with a wail.

Her back bows once more, and her walls tighten just so. He follows her into bliss.

Zuko comes back to himself, easing out of her to lay on his side. She clutches at him, still quivering through aftershocks of pleasure. He smirks at her and swipes a hand through her wetness, and she gasps and arches once last time.

“Careful,” she hisses. “I have many more of those in me than you do.”

He chuckles, low and rough. He licks his lips.

“Don’t challenge me, waterbender.” The taunting name, once thrown like a dagger, drips with desire and affection. “Though that’s certainly a duel I’d enjoy losing.”

Katara leans over and kisses him, not feeling up to snipes, only wanting to touch. Her brain thrums, processing what has just occurred. Of all the emotions she thought this scenario might bring, she had never considered pure, unadulterated joy.

“I love you, too.”

Zuko’s eyes fly open to gaze into hers.

“I didn’t say it back before,” she clarifies. “But I love you, too.”

He gathers her into his arms, not sure how he will ever muster the desire to leave this bed ever again. It’s the last thing he thinks before they drift off to sleep.

Neither noticed the storm had tapered off ages ago.

 

* * *

 

The next morning, fortune is still smiling upon them: They awake to a still-empty house.

They rouse each other with lazy kisses that lead to lazy lovemaking. They go slow, each touch tender and meaningful. If last night was a dam breaking, this morning is a calm tide on a quiet beach.

They wash together in the enormous master bath, and are dressed and completely presentable by the time their friends pick their way up the muddy walk. The exasperated look on Suki’s face makes it plain they’d left town as soon as the all-clear had been called. They are not carrying any groceries.

Zuko and Katara primly sip their tea and listen to Sokka rant and rave at what disappointing accommodations they’d found.

“Really, I’d rather sleep on Appa than that terrible bed. Yikes!”

Suki smoothly changes the topic.

“How about you two? Everything okay last night?”

“Fine,” Katara says.

“Just great,” Zuko also replies, perhaps a beat too hastily.

They both sip their tea and pray Toph hasn’t noticed their heartbeats going haywire. They are deeply relieved when Aang careens in, announcing he’s going to go back out and offer help around the island where it might be needed. Sokka announces he’s going to get some sleep on a comfortable bed, thank you very much, and Suki agrees to join him with a saucy grin.

Katara makes a point of ignoring that last and pours herself more tea. Toph has her head tilted toward the two of them in a way that makes them distinctly uncomfortable. Zuko breaks the moment first.

“I’m going to head into town for food, since apparently the four of you couldn’t be trusted with that errand.”

Toph scoffs at him. “Come on, Sparky. You know what herding those cats is like. As soon as the storm happened, all shopping lists were forgotten.”

“Yeah, yeah. Did you want to join me, Katara?”

Toph’s eyes widen and her head tilts further. She hears something new in his voice when he says Katara’s name.

“Yeah, let me grab my bag before we go.”

“I’ll meet you out front.”

Zuko goes off to his room for shoes and money, and once more, Toph notices changes in the rhythms of his entire body. As soon as he’s out of earshot, she turns on Katara.

“So. Seems like you and Grumpypants there got your shit sorted out.”

Katara chokes on her tea.

“I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Whatever, Sugar Queen. He’s practically levitating, and I know that’s Kyoshi Tea. I can smell it. Good on ya. Like I said, I’m glad you two sorted yourselves out finally. Make sure you get moon peaches at the market, please? I’m going to catch some shuteye, too.”

The tiny earth bender saunters off to her room, leaving Katara in stunned silence.

Whatever the full effects of this weekend turn out to be, Katara can’t quite find it in herself to regret a spirits-damned moment of it. She hopes there’s mangoes at the market to go with those moon peaches.

**Author's Note:**

> This is all @LittleLostStar's fault. She also beta'd this.
> 
> HONOR!!!able mention goes to several kind Zutarans who've dragged me into this pit with them. It's nice! We've got wifi!
> 
> Title is from Wooden Heart by Listener


End file.
